A manual transmission is manually operated by a driver of a vehicle to control a gear ratio for transferring drive torque from an engine to a driveline. The driver operates a clutch pedal that in turn controls engagement/disengagement of a clutch assembly (a clutch disc and a pressure plate) in the manual transmission. A clutch interlock switch detects contact with the clutch pedal and outputs an on/off state. The on state of the clutch interlock switch is indicative of a fully-depressed clutch. When the clutch interlock switch is in the off state, the engine is prevented from starting because the clutch pedal is assumed to not be fully-depressed. When a false malfunction of the clutch interlock switch is detected, however, the engine could potentially inadvertently be prevented from starting. This potential scenario could be undesirable for vehicles equipped with an electronic stop-start (ESS) system that repeatedly stops and starts the engine. Accordingly, while such manual transmission systems do work for well their intended purpose, there remains a need for improvement in the relevant art.